Mormon Mama Looking on the Bright Side!

I am getting excited about writing again like that time, three years ago, when I started this blog and wrote my first blog post. It felt like a liberation. Back then I was too hungry for self-improvement and success to worry about rejection or the intimidation that a blank page often brings. I just wrote….

I have come to a point in my life where I can say my heart is full. Today while I was sitting in church, I just felt this joy filling me up. A lot of this joy has to do with Niya. I dressed her up in this cute outfit and was extremely excited to…

The days are falling into themselves. Life with Niya has a constancy, a flow and ebb. I am adjusting to its rhythm as I change diapers, coax grins, read books like The Foot Book, The Nose Book, Are You My Mother? and Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Niya’s eyes are always bright with…

When Niya was born, I remember getting tons of advice from the nurses in the hospital. These include one nurse sharing a scary story about a mom who was co-sleeping with her newborn and ended up smothering the baby (or crushing her… I can’t quite remember exactly). The nurse said, “Whatever you do, make sure…

Sometimes, while Niya naps and the minutes drift by I find my mind reflecting on the past. I retrace my steps, wonder at the small things that do not matter, like the job I quit a while back, the books I should have written… At times like this when the world is quiet and all…

I can’t sleep. My heart is heavy. I’ve tried to block the horrors of the news from seeping in but my heart is remembering. A fifteen year old girl is dead and so many more of our women here in Jamaica and across the world are suffering.

The lights are out for the first time since my return to Jamaica. Suddenly I can hear the insects singing in the night. The stillness is frightening and yet I can feel my heart no longer a distant drum.

I am usually very happy so when the sadness hit me late last night I felt a bit overwhelmed. It was like staring into the darkness, where there was no beginning or end… I am writing this post to clear my head. I am praying for strength to bear the burdens only mothers know.

When’s the last time you did something really hard? The kind that makes you grit your teeth as your muscles strain to move mountains. Hard times are usually the most opportunity-rich moments — the ones that, if we let them, prove we are stronger than we first thought. Let me tell you about my friend.

It all started when I was about 7 months pregnant. Mothers I knew, full of warnings and words of wisdom, began texting and calling. Most of the warnings related to the horrors of childbirth (like this relative who told me she got 30 stitches! Another warned me of unexpected bowel movements). As if that wasn’t…

Jamaican Writers Society is a professional organization consisting of Jamaican Writers of all genres of writing. This includes: Poets, Bloggers, Fiction Writers, Non-fiction Writers, Playwrights, Children Story Writers, Song Writers, etc.